Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter - Term Paper Example

Number and of the Symbolism in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Nathaniel Hawthorn’s The Scarlet Letter widely employs the use of a number of symbolisms to depict his themes and to pass messages in the novel. The first and most conspicuous use of symbolism is in the title of the book, the scarlet letter Hester is compelled to wear. Other symbolism employed includes the sun, the scaffold, and the forest among others. The scarlet letter The scarlet letter is probably the most significant symbolism as it runs through the novel, right from the title to the very last chapters, making it central to the novel. This symbolism has different meaning, depending on the context in which it has been used. As the novel begins, Hester Prynne , a young woman, is presented having been led to the town prison along with her infant daughter who she carries on her arms. On her gown’s breast is “a rag of scarlet cloth" that "assumed the shape of a letter." This letter is an upper case “A” which stands for adultery, the sin and offence she had committed which eventually led her to the prison. In chapter two of the novel, Hester is presented as she gets out of the prison walking, wearing the rather infamous scarlet “A” (Hawthorne, Chap. 2, para 1.). At the time of Hester’s punishment, and the subsequent few years, the letter “A” was used as a reminder of shame. Thus, in this chapter, the scarlet “A” which Hester wears symbolizes shame that is intended to be casted upon her for her for her sins(Parker 13). It thus acts as a badge of shame and symbolizes punishment. In this context, it could symbolize betrayal of one’s spouse. Later on in chapter 5, Hester again appears in a completely different light. The narrator indicates, “…Hester Prynne had always this dreadful agony in feeling a human eye upon the token; the spot never grew callous; it seemed, on the contrary, to grow more sensitive with daily tortur” (Hawthorne, Chap. 5, para1). It is therefore evident at this point that the sense of shame has drastically been eroded. Most probably, the scarlet “A” comes to be viewed in another light altogether and it comes to mean other things to Hester and the other people who surround her. This shift in perception of scarlet “A” and the letter A becomes clear in chapter 13 where the narrator expressly recognizes that it has come be perceived as meaning an ability, and therefore a symbol of able people. Hawthorne depicts this as follows: “They said that it meant ‘Able’; so strong was Hester Prynne, with a woman’s strength” (Hawthorne, chap. 13, Para 1). This change in perception of the letter appears to have hijacked the original intent of issuing the scarlet letter. At the end of it all, it has failed to do its work, which was to punish Hester. Rather, it has given her a completely different and positive image. While the scarlet letter brings shame to Hester, this only happens for a while and it fails to fulfill the end goal of issuing it, which was to punish, condemn and deter further acts of adultery. As Hawthorne writes, in chapter 18, “Thus, we seem to see that, as regarded Hester Prynne, the whole seven years of outlaw and ignominy had been little other than a preparation for this very hour” (Hawthorne chap 18, Para 1). Towards the end of the novel, Hester is seen making plans to escape with Dimmesdale to Europe, an attestation that the punishment never had any deterrence nor has Hester leant anything from the latter (Korobkin 194). They still proceed with their adulterous relationship. Had Hester leant from the scarlet letter, she would not have even conceived of doing such acts as eloping with a man who was not her husband, let alone attempting it. The scarlet “A” in the latter context therefore turns out to symbolize rebellion against puritan culture and substituting it with a completely different meaning and perception. Pearl Pearl is depicted as a fairly complex character. She happens to be the product of the adulterous affair of the mother, and may be said to symbolize multiplication of moral decay in Puritan society. The child is shown to be held closely to the mother’s bosom. He mother always dresses her in bright red showy clothes and beautiful clothes of scarlet. There is therefore a close link between Pearl and the scarlet letter. She symbolizes the scarlet letter, much as the scarlet letter symbioses her. She primarily serves a symbolic function, signifying the adulterous affair that brought her into the world. Just as the negative connotations of scarlet letter wanes with time, Pearl also develops to imbibe the guilt that eats into her parents as the mother gets a lot off solace in concentrating in attending to her. Hawthorn writes: Hester could only account for the child's character--and even then, most vaguely and imperfectly--by recalling what she herself had been, during that momentous period while Pearl was imbibing her soul from the spiritual world, and her bodily frame from its material of earth. The mother's impassioned state had been the medium through which were transmitted to the unborn infant the rays of its moral life; and, however white and clear originally, they had taken the deep stains of crimson and gold, the fiery lustre, the black shadow, and the untempered light, of the intervening substance (Hawthorn , Chap. 6 ,Para 3) Pearl is therefore a symbol of relief. Throughout her upbringing, Pearl always sees her mother with the scarlet letter and always tries to reach it out, since to her, that letter represents her mother. While the mother understands the negatives associated with it, the young Pearl never sees any thing wrong with it. Each time Hester realizes that Pearl is checking onto the letter, Hester gets hurts though the letter burns into her soul. The Scaffold Another symbolism that is closely related to the scarlet letter is the scaffold. Early in the novel, scaffold is seen in the novel at about the same time that that Hester is shown to be publicly wearing the scarlet letter for the very first time. She stands on the scaffold after having walked out of the prison. The author writes in chapter two: “It was, in short, the platform of the pillory; and above it rose the framework of that instrument of discipline, so fashioned as to confine the human head in its tight grasp, and thus hold it up to the public gaze. The very ideal of ignominy was embodied and made manifest in this contrivance of wood and iron” (Hawthorne, Chap 2, para 1). The author’s descriptions wrap up the significance of the symbol, scaffold, to the novel. To the puritans, scaffold is a place of public shame that is meant for the people who have contravened the Puritan law. Therefore, just as the scarlet letter, it symbolizes Hester’s shame and punishment (Newberry 234). It symbolizes the manner in which the puritans deal with sin by publicly exposing the sinners and law breakers to public odium and disgrace. The Sun and its Shining The sun and the way it shines also constitute another significant symbolism in the book. The sun shines on Pearl but not on Hester quite often for the better part of the book. For instance, when we come across Hester walking through the forest, the narrator comments that she cannot feel the sunshine. On the contrary, Pearl feels the sunshine and basks in it. Towards the end of the book, Hester and Arthur are having a conversation in the forest; it is at this place that Hester removes the scarlet letter, a symbol that she would no longer be bound by it. The author writes that : “All at once, as with a sudden smile of heaven, forth burst the sunshine, pouring a very flood into the obscure forest, gladdening each green leaf, transmuting the yellow fallen ones to gold, and gleaming adown the gray trunks of the solemn trees. The objects that had made a shadow hitherto, embodied the brightness now.” (Hawthorne, chap 18, Para 1). This is a symbol that nature is extremely impressed with Hester and Arthur. Natural law no longer imposes guilt on the two (Gartner 140). This is due to the fact that they are not oppressed by their past any more. God, being the overall control of nature is happy with them as well. One can reason that Hester and Arthur did not commit adultery in the first place since arguably Hester was not actually married. This is why, by mentioning sunshine over and over again, Hawthorne emphasizes this happiness. Another school of thought is that since Hester was not married to Arthur either, their act amounted to adultery (Hunter 187). The fact that God makes His sun to shine on them may not necessarily mean that He was happy with them. The Forest The forest is another important symbol in the book. In the early parts of the story, the forest may be seen to symbolize evil. Hester says in chapter four “Art thou like the Black Man that haunts the forest round about us?” By so saying, she perpetrates the belief of the puritans in the story that the forest is the home of all evils where the night meetings are held by witches. Possibly the Puritans made up stories about the forest in an attempt to keep people away from the natural law, so that they fully submit to the Puritan Law. Even when Hester and Arthur are in the forest we still see Hester engulfed in the darkness of the forest and only Arthur receives some rays of light that manages to find their way through the leaves. Since darkness in itself is a symbol of evil, the dark forest may also be interpreted to represent the same. The forest at some point especially as the story approaches its end, is seen to symbolize a holly place, an altar for reconciliation. Towards the end of the book, Hawthorne tries to dispute the Puritan law. This is clearly shown when he writes , “Their immediate posterity, the generation next to the early emigrants, wore the blackest shade of Puritanism, and so darkened the national visage with it, that all the subsequent years have not sufficed to clear it up ” (Hawthorn , Chap. 8 ,Para 1) It is no wonder that when Hester and Arthur reconcile with their past, they are in the forest. It is in the same forest that the sun shines after Hester removes the scarlet letter. Since the sunshine may be interpreted to mean God’s approval, the fact that it took place in the forest symbolizes that that the forest is a holy place after all. The fact that Pearl manages to get streams of light through the leafy canopy while Hester does not get any may be interpreted to mean that whether the forest is evil or holy is more of a state of mind than a fact. Conclusion Hawthorne therefore widely employs the use of symbolism in the novel to portray his ideas, themes and attitude towards Puritan laws, tradition and way of life. The major symbols include the scarlet letter which basically symbolizes shame, public disgrace and punishment as well as rebellion towards the Puritan laws and way of living; scaffold which also symbolizes shame and punishment; the sunshine, which symbolizes nature, God’s happiness, and the forest which symbolizes obscurity of truth and uncertainty. Works Cited Gartner, Matthew. "The Scarlet Letter and the Book of Esther: Scriptural Letter and Narrative Life". Studies in American Fiction 23.2 (Fall 1995): 131-51. Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter: A Romance.   Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1850. 23 Sep. 1999. [Electronic Copy]. Accessed at  < http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/nh/sl.html > April 20, 2011. Hunter, Dianne, Seduction and theory: readings of gender, representation, and rhetoric. University of Illinois Press. 1989. Korobkin, Laura Haft. "The Scarlet Letter of the Law: Hawthorne and Criminal Justice". Novel: a Forum on Fiction 30.2 (Winter 1997): 193–217. Newberry, Frederick. Tradition and Disinheritance in The Scarlet Letter". ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance 23 (1977), 1–26; repr. in: The Scarlet Letter. W. W. Norton, 1988: pp. 231-48. Parker, Hershel. "The Germ Theory of THE SCARLET LETTER," Hawthorne Society Newsletter 11 (Spring 1985). Read More